82 PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL WORK AGAINST MOSQUITOES. 



been agitated and inaugurated, and doubtless this method will con- 

 tinue most effectively for some time to come. 



The first step in undertaking such work is to interest several 

 responsible persons whose names carry weight in the community, 

 and then to raise a small fund, either by appropriations from funds 

 at the disposal of the improvement society, or whatever it may be, 

 or by private subscription. Then these persons, forming a com- 

 mittee, should issue a circular to every householder, signed by the 

 whole committee, reciting very briefly the well-known facts concern- 

 ing the breeding places of mosquitoes and the measures which should 

 at once be taken by householders. A good plan also would be to 

 have a public lecture given by some expert, well illustrated, to which 

 all householders should be invited. An excellent circular of the 

 character just described was issued in the early summer of 1901 as 

 follows: 



The Village Improvement Society of South Orange. 



south orange, n. j. 



May 27, 1901. 



The breeding place of the mosquitoes that may infest your house may be looked 

 for within your own house or grounds, or in your immediate neighborhood. 



The mosquito lays its eggs only upon standing water and passes the first ten days of 

 its existence in the water. 



Without standing water there can be no mosquitoes. 



Dr. Howard says: "I feel sure that the cesspools in South Orange must be responsi- 

 ble for a great deal of your mosquito supply . ' ' Therefore : 



Look to your cesspools, cisterns, water tanks, and any barrels or other receptacles 

 in which water may stand for a few days, either inside or outside the house. 



It is suggested that you at once do away with every unnecessary water receptacle. 



Put kerosene oil in your cesspools and on surface of necessary standing water once in 

 three weeks. 



Oil placed on surface should not affect the taste of water drawn from beneath the 

 surface, but when that is not considered advisable water receptacles should be 

 screened with a fine mesh screen. 



The mosquito being not only a serious annoyance, but a constant menace to health, 

 its extermination becomes a matter of public concern. 



The cooperation of every household is requested. 



Please report to the location of any pools of stagnant water in 



your neighborhood. 



After the issuing of the circular or the holding of the public lecture, 

 or both, if the members of the committee are too busy, as they are 

 likely to be, to engage to any extent in the actual superintending 

 work, an intelligent superintendent must be chosen who will famil- 

 iarize himself with the biology of mosquitoes and especially with 

 the character of mosquito breeding places in general. He should 

 at once be put to work upon a survey of the mosquito topography 

 of the neighborhood. It will be well for him to make a map upon 

 which every breeding place, aside from the chance receptacles about 



